On April 30, more than 100 members of the Franklin & Marshall and Lancaster communities gathered on campus to view the premiere of a new documentary film that showcases the work that F&M faculty and students are leading to better understand and mitigate water quality and erosion issues affecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

For decades, national and local efforts have sought to address the pollution and sediment problems of the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed region. Erosion, much of which occurs in Pennsylvania and affects a six-state region, causes high sediment loads in streams and washes away critical nutrients and fuels oxygen-depleting algae blooms, devastating the Bay’s ecosystem and water quality. Pioneering research at F&M uncovered a previously unrecognized source of these stream impairments, which has inspired new ecosystem restoration approaches that have substantial state and federal policy implications for water quality improvements. 

Franklin & Marshall President Andrew Rich welcomed attendees and shared the story of a visit to the Little Conestoga River during the first weeks of his presidency. Steinman Foundation Co-Chair and F&M Trustee Bob Krasne invited him last July to view a new restoration project on this stream and introduced him to Professors Dorothy Merritts and Bob Walter ’75, founders and co-directors of the Chesapeake Watershed Initiative (CWI).

“That morning was transformative for me as a new president,” said Rich. “It was immediately clear to me that what is special about F&M is our home, Lancaster, and the extraordinary engagement of our faculty here. Our professors combine their enthusiasm, their expertise, their knowledge, and their passion with a community that embraces us and poses all kinds of opportunities – and plenty of challenges – where we can lend our strengths.”

At the event, Rich introduced Lancaster filmmakers Mary Haverstick ’82 and Michele Mercure. The two spent months with F&M faculty, students, landowners, and community partners to document the discovery, process, and results of floodplain restoration along Indian Run, a tributary to the Conestoga River that eventually flows to the Chesapeake Bay. They presented their resulting documentary, “Revealing Ancient Wetlands,” to the audience in the work’s first public viewing.

“Revealing Ancient Wetlands” is a Haverstick Films Production.

The film was made possible thanks to funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to the CWI; their philanthropy has supported a number of seed grants for the initiative. The film will be used to help educate the public and enlist partners in research and restoration efforts.

Merritts, the Harry W. and Mary B. Huffnagle Professor of Geosciences, and Walter, the Dr. Earl D. Stage & Mary E. Stage Professor of Geosciences, began their research more than 20 years ago following a discussion with a student. That student was doing research along a stream reach with relatively low water flow but very steep banks and silt deposits about 20 feet thick.

Walter remembers thinking how unnatural that appeared as the student showed photos from the fieldwork. Their interest piqued, he and Merritts began researching historic Lancaster county maps to uncover the history of similar sites. They found that many of these locations had something in common: Heavy silt and sediment deposits, coupled with poor water quality, occurred most frequently at the site of old mill dams, some of which were built more than 300 years ago. They uncovered more than 400 of these dams in historic records, and many turned out to have the same symptoms as the first site.

"As faculty, we make sure our students know they're engaging in something special, and that they're able to do fundamental and groundbreaking research."

Bob Walter '75, the Dr. Earl D. Stage & Mary E. Stage Professor of Geosciences at Franklin & Marshall College

They identified restoration engineers who, inspired by this research, began to remove sediment and silt that had accumulated over hundreds of years and worked to restore the natural floodplain and stable aquatic ecosystems that existed before European settlers arrived in the region. The result was a verdant, thriving wetland with healthy native biodiversity and improved water quality.

What began as a curiosity has since evolved into a nationally recognized endeavor that has expanded to include hundreds of community partners. As the initiative expanded, Merritts and Walter recruited additional co-directors in Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy Patrick Fleming, who studies water quality, agricultural sustainability, and the evaluation of public policies, and Professor of Environmental Science Chris Williams, a paleoecologist who examines soil and fossil records, especially wetlands, to understand how vegetation and climate vary through vast stretches of time.

Today, the Chesapeake Watershed Initiative is a multidisciplinary collaborative research and restoration organization that has galvanized support from Lancaster citizens; local, state and federal government organizations; community advocacy groups; researchers; educators; nonprofit organizations; and foundation partners. The research has been widely published in both popular and academic circles, and the findings have significantly informed and advanced similar restoration projects and techniques, including more than 60 in Pennsylvania alone.

It’s also been a consistent laboratory in F&M’s vibrant student research culture. Hundreds of students have worked alongside faculty, embracing key research roles spanning documenting and identifying ancient seeds found in the soil uncovered beneath the silt to using advanced mapping and surveying techniques to catalog improvements to the revived wetlands.

“We tell our students all the time that what we were doing with them in these backyard spaces is important science,” said Merritts, recounting the six student researchers she had worked with on a remote research site earlier that day. “It’s a big deal for them that the world cares, and scientifically, what they’re doing matters.”    

“Our Department of Earth and Environment is one of the top-ranked programs in the nation and has been for more than 70 years,” said Walter. “As faculty, we make sure our students know they're engaging in something special, and that they're able to do fundamental and groundbreaking research. At a big research institution, that would be rare, but to do it at a small liberal arts college is even more special.”

Following the screening, Franklin & Marshall College Provost Sunita Kramer ’92 moderated a panel discussion with Merritts, Walter, Krasne, and Diana Martin, director of High Impact at the High Foundation.

The Steinman Foundation has provided support for the Chesapeake Watershed Initiative. It is also the leader and major funder of the Blue-Green Connector, an active stream restoration project that will include an accessible trail system adjoining restored portions of the Little Conestoga Creek. In addition to restoration of ecosystems, the site is being designed to bring Lancaster residents closer to nature and stimulate connection, community, educational opportunities, and even economic activity.

“This is really intended to be a best-in-class model that hopefully can be deployed on other sites as a means to address the problems that were so ably described in Mary and Michele’s film,” said Krasne, who noted that because these projects are rooted in community, they result in broader buy-in of the work and the results. “By getting more people involved, people with different skill sets and different sets of experiences, you achieve better outcomes. People who have a part to play in a project are more committed, have more engagement, and generate more excitement.”

Martin agreed, noting that the region has benefited from an investment in this work and by involving as many constituencies as possible. Pennsylvania has a reputation as a major culprit in the problems besetting the Chesapeake, but now, efforts centered in Lancaster are changing that narrative.

“There's really room for everyone in this work,” said Martin, who is spearheading a restoration project at Sunnyside Peninsula, located just a few miles south of F&M’s campus. “Lancaster is becoming known for our leadership in this space, and that is going to catalyze more momentum, because everyone wants to be on a winning team.” 

Kramer characterized the work as a model for how F&M wants to interact with and positively impact Lancaster.

“What we heard today is a model for how partnerships and connections can lead to a thriving science and community partnership. We've seen that education and community engagement is critical to this work,” she said. “Deep partnerships between Franklin & Marshall and our community can have a huge impact, and we're looking forward to doing more of this work.”